MAY 4, 2005

A rule change at GP2

After being pounded by criticism at Imola, the GP2 series has decided to make changes to its rules. In the first race the drivers will now have to make only one compulsory pit stop rather than the two that occurred at Imola. This will make the races much easier to understand and, in order to give the pits stops some logic, the teams will have to change at least two tyres on the car. The second rule change is to stop drivers going for the points for fastest lap without really playing a role in the race. This was seen in Imola when Nicolas Lapierre was in trouble in race two and rather than racing in the hope of picking up points decided to go for the points for fastest lap. In future the driver with the fastest lap will only get points if he is classified as having completed 90% of the race distance.

The changes will be a useful step forward for the series. The next problem is to reduce the cost to the teams, which is way in excess of the old Formula 3000. Perhaps the companies involved will now decide to reduce the scale of their profits, in order to maintain a full grid of competitive cars.

If not we are bound to see the influx of race-to-race pay-drivers as the season progresses as the budgets begin to dry up, something which will do nothing for the image of the series.